VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN Shares Bought by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 11.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 75,760 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,737 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in VeriSign were worth $21,879,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC boosted its stake in VeriSign by 56.5% in the second quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 97 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 2.5% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,506 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Flputnam Investment Management Co. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 1.8% during the first quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 2,183 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $554,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 25.3% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of VeriSign by 32.3% during the first quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 172 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRSN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on VeriSign from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of VeriSign in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, VeriSign currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $277.50.

Insider Activity at VeriSign

In related news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.06, for a total transaction of $528,120.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 469,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $123,960,062.34. The trade was a 0.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas C. Indelicarto sold 501 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.92, for a total value of $131,722.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 34,189 shares in the company, valued at $8,988,971.88. This represents a 1.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 38,706 shares of company stock worth $10,591,676. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

VeriSign Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $264.79 on Friday. VeriSign, Inc. has a 12 month low of $175.62 and a 12 month high of $310.60. The stock has a market cap of $24.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.60 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $274.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $274.04.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The information services provider reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.01. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 40.87% and a net margin of 50.05%.The firm had revenue of $409.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $410.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.01 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. VeriSign has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. VeriSign’s payout ratio is presently 36.75%.

VeriSign declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.11 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information services provider to reacquire up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

VeriSign Profile

VeriSign, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides domain name registry services and internet infrastructure that enables internet navigation for various recognized domain names worldwide. The company enables the security, stability, and resiliency of internet infrastructure and services, including providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of thirteen internet root servers; and offering registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net domains, which supports global e-commerce.